Taking Paine Further
Take it even further...
Beethoven
Chaplin
Chaucer
Cromwell
DaVinci
Descartes
Einstein
Guevara
Paine
Pankhurst
Shelley
Tubman
The man of rights
From the Town Council in Lewes to national hero in France and America is quite a journey - discover more about the philosophy and life of Thomas Paine.
Paine: the lecture
Apart from his lack of skills at selling bridges, Paine enjoyed a number of notable achievements in his life, yet remains largely forgotten in his country of birth. Mark explains why.
Take Paine a little deeper with our suggestions of books, weblinks and courses.
Books
All of Thomas Paine's writings are out of copyright and many titles have been converted into digital books and so can be accessed free-of-charge online:
The Rights of Man
Common Sense
The Age of Reason
The American Crisis
For a general introduction to Paine:
Tom Paine: a political life
John Keane
Bloomsbury, 1995
Weblinks
Paine on bbc.co.uk/history - Professor John Belchem's Paine biography
Open Sandwich - it's possible to visit the house where Paine wrote Common Sense in the Kent town of Sandwich
Thomas Paine National Historical Association - American society dedicated to keeping Paine's memory alive
The BBC and the Open University are not responsible for the content of external websites.
Courses
AA303 - Understanding Comparative History: Britain and America from 1760 - Explore the historical development of Britain and America from 1760 to 1970 and examine similarities and differences in the political, social and economic history of these two English-speaking industrial and imperial powers during a period of great change. The course includes topics on the American Revolution, empire, industrialisation, urbanisation and explores the relationship between these changes and concepts of democracy, citizenship, social class, race, gender, the nation state, nationality, and economic development.
A207 - From Enlightenment to Romanticism c.1780-1830 - Amongst the many themes of the age focused on in this course are the after-shocks of the French Revolution.
AA311 - Reading Political Philosophy: From Machiavelli to Mill - While not featuring Paine directly, this course provides background on many of those who influenced, and were influenced by, his work; it also offers encouragement in how to approach and dissect the logical arguments made by the line of political philosophers to which Paine belongs. This course will not be available until 2007.
Content last updated: 08/10/2004
